I heartily agree with the need to search sequence databases
taxonomically. As someone who is just beginning to work
with sequences, I have been VERY surprised at how difficult
it is to search databases (e.g. GenBank) using names of
phyla, orders, or families. I would think (perhaps I am
naive though) that this taxonomic information would be an
obvious inclusion along with the sequence. Perhaps this
speaks to the greater problem in biology of lack of respect
for basic taxonomy.
Scott France
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution